10 March 2015 / Published online: 28 July 2015 | Ole Ellegaard, Johan A. Wallin
This article examines the impact and dissemination of bibliometric methods in scientific research. Bibliometric analysis, which involves the quantitative study of scientific publications, has become an integral part of research evaluation, particularly in scientific and applied fields. The study uses bibliometric literature from Web of Science to analyze the impact of these methods in two categories: Information and Library Science (ILS) and non-ILS. The impact is assessed through citation analysis, revealing a significant increase in non-ILS category publications from 1994 onwards. Multidisciplinary articles are found to have the highest impact, and there is a noticeable shift in countries contributing to bibliometric analysis. The study also discusses the implications for the use of bibliometric methods in different contexts and highlights the importance of choosing appropriate publication channels to maximize citations. The findings suggest that bibliometric analysis is becoming more widely accepted and utilized, especially in the non-ILS community, and that collaboration between different communities could further professionalize the field.This article examines the impact and dissemination of bibliometric methods in scientific research. Bibliometric analysis, which involves the quantitative study of scientific publications, has become an integral part of research evaluation, particularly in scientific and applied fields. The study uses bibliometric literature from Web of Science to analyze the impact of these methods in two categories: Information and Library Science (ILS) and non-ILS. The impact is assessed through citation analysis, revealing a significant increase in non-ILS category publications from 1994 onwards. Multidisciplinary articles are found to have the highest impact, and there is a noticeable shift in countries contributing to bibliometric analysis. The study also discusses the implications for the use of bibliometric methods in different contexts and highlights the importance of choosing appropriate publication channels to maximize citations. The findings suggest that bibliometric analysis is becoming more widely accepted and utilized, especially in the non-ILS community, and that collaboration between different communities could further professionalize the field.